the little wild kingdom

[flowerbug]

only some slight action where i put down the ground cloves and sprayed those holes full of water and ground cloves. likely it was just the raccoons being curious but they didn't dig much other than just moving some crushed limestone. i put things back as they should be so i know what it should look like tomorrow. if no new changes in a week i'm going to repeat this in another area (under the AC unit) to evict those critters too. they've been there a long time and i really don't want them there either.

too bad i can't get rid of the berm... *sigh*

 

[flowerbug]

interesting shadow from the clouds (sunrise) into the overlayering clouds in the foreground.

the Irish Moss is there but you do have to look closely to see it after recovering from last winter and being left alone. i didn't remove the Creeping Thyme this season and with the heat and drought that was probably a good decision. i'm not going to weed or thin it any more and see how it does. indications so far is that the two plants cohabitate just fine. i have several other small patches of them now and will let them all do what they'd like as having a community of ground cover plants that get along is exactly the kind of thing i like to see. it makes it harder for weeds to get established...

this other Thyme really filled in faster (two growing seasons) than the Creeping Thyme and is taller. i'm pondering shifting that whole edge of ground cover plants over a few feet to put that taller Thyme down the slope and at the bottom. somehow i'd need to find the time to do that... hmmm... it is working really well and may even survive being mowed and spread into the neighboring grass (fine with me!).

pink Mums. at first i was surprised by the one flower in the entire patch that has the yellow center and thought it was the odd one out or perhaps even insect eggs, but in looking very closely with a magnified image i could see bits of the yellow centers in some of the other flowers it just happened to be that there was just that one out in the whole patch when i took my picture.

yellow Mums needed a close shot too.

i'm really proud of Mom getting this garden redone without me being too involved. it was gettiing really overgrown with grasses and weeds and where it is doesn't get much sun any longer due to the surrounding trees.

 

[flowerbug]

checked for creature holes again and there were some new ones today. so i filled them back in again and we'll see what they look like tomorrow.

what i really need to do is go along and peel out as much of the gravel and sand from along that edge and spray foam under there to seal it all up better and then pack the gravel back in before the foam cures to give the foam some protection from chewing creatures that want to try to get under there again. do i really need another project? no. will i do this this year? no...

got the garlic planted today. nice to be outside and get something done. good to move the body.

 

[flowerbug]

cloves did not solve critter problem, but it did make things quiet for several days in a row.

today i took a small funnel and duct taped it to a flexible hose and threaded the hose in the critter hole entrance and as far back in as i could get it and then poured some bleach down it. sorry, it's a horrible thing to do but i'm not letting them stay there and i can't trap them without causing even worse issues.

my previous thoughts about spray foam have changed and next year i'll do it or talk Mom into doing it because it's really her fault to begin with that she did it wrong... plus she loves playing with concrete... if she can take care of the AC unit critter issues too that will be a bonus... i'm liking this alternative plan already. p.s. if she doesn't do it i will...

i think getting the gravel moved out of the way and packing the gap full of cement and then sticking gravel on the outside and then putting the rest of the gravel back will at least keep them from thinking that is such an easy home to start and get into.

for some reason the past 27 years they've not done this and this year they are. mices, i hateses mices, even if they are cute lil boogers, and really i don't know if these are mices or some other creature - i've only seen one out of the corner of my eye and that wasn't much of a seeing...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang little critters! Sounds like you've got a plan!

 

[flowerbug]

Dang little critters! Sounds like you've got a plan!

i've usually always got plans, it's the execution of said plans that is the difficulty...

 

[flowerbug]

two old pictures (from 2012)

one of a part of the glass garden (as we call it).

and the other of the swing with the rust garden in the foreground (and some of the glass garden on the left side middle).

can't really see either of these anymore now that the trees have grown so much.

 

[flowerbug]

i wish i had the time and energy to get about 1,800sqft of sod busted... if i'm lucky i can get 100-200 done this fall sometime somehow, more would be nice, not sure i can even get this done...

 

[flowerbug]

back to more bean shelling and changing over to a bag of Yellow Eye beans so to break up the system. 7 bags down 5 to go.

Yellow Eye beans are not as easy to shell but they still cheer me up because of their round plump shape and the seed coat pattern.

 

[flowerbug]

i expected it to take much more effort than how it went today so i'm now 1 bag of shelled Yellow Eye beans closer to being done shelling season. not that i'm in a hurry it's just something i enjoy doing so once i get started i like to keep going along. took a nice break halfway.

still have to sort them more but i can look at my little pretties more later on after this break is over...

probably about 5lbs of beans.

as i was shelling them out i was also saving certain beans from certain pods so i can influence the next crop a little.